A wall washer is understood to be a lighting fixture that is specifically designed to illuminate a vertical surface in a room, i.e. particularly it's wall. Usually, lighting fixtures that are used for this purpose are directly hung or arranged on a horizontally oriented base surface, for example, the ceiling of a room, and are designed in terms of their light output, so that they illuminate a wall that is e.g. obliquely located below the mounting position of the lighting fixture. Compared to a lighting fixture that is primarily intended to illuminate an area that is located vertically below it, and which accordingly features a more symmetrical light output, the light distribution curve of a wall washer is designed in a more asymmetric manner.
In order to achieve this particular type of light emitting characteristic, special optics are used, by means of which the light emitted from the light source can be directed onto the wall area that is to be illuminated. In the past, reflectors have been used particularly for this purpose, since it was relatively simple to produce the desired asymmetric lateral light emission by means of these. From the prior art, a wide variety of versions for realizing such wall washer are known in this regard.
However, the prior art also reveals that the previously known solutions require that the lighting fixtures must have a certain minimum size in order that they can achieve a satisfactory illumination of the wall area. The smaller the dimensions of the lighting fixture, the more difficult it is to achieve an evenly homogeneous illumination. This presents a problem, since an uneven light distribution on the wall area that is to be illuminated is usually not acceptable, but at the same time, it is the general aim to make lighting fixtures smaller and more compact.
The objective of the present invention is thus to present a new possibility for realizing a wall washer by means of which it is possible to produce a homogeneous, evenly distributed light field on a wall area that is to be illuminated despite a relatively compact design of the lighting fixture.
This objective is achieved by means of a lighting fixture featuring the characteristics described below.